Pharma Convention 2017

The Student Placement Committee at MISB Bocconi, Powai in Mumbai organized their first Pharma convention. The lecture series aimed to gain perspective on the various trends and understand the challenges faced by the various businesses in the pharmaceutical industry. The event was attended by eminent people of the Pharma industry and the students of MISB Bocconi.

Mr. Atul Bhopale, Executive Director, NexGen Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., opened the house with an introduction to the pharmacy industry and its evolution over the years. Concerning the dynamic nature of the industry, he said that one must read between the lines to keep up. He stated, “Value chain comes from incidents rather than innovation.” Mr.Ravishankar Sharma, General Manager of Manufacturing at Atul Ltdopined that the success of the pharmaceutical industry is dependent on drug discovery. A new drug takes between12 to 25 years to move from the research stage to the final market launch.

In global convention pharmacy, India majorly grows in generics. A major challenge is that of meeting the market expectations, owing to cheaper drugs and therapies introduced frequently. The healthcare expenditure in India is increasing while the regulatory environment is getting stringent across the world. A technical challenge is also poor scientific productivity regarding research, manufacturing, and production.

The following speaker, Mr.Yogesh Bhide, General Manager of Manufacturing at Indoco Remedies Ltd., threw light on the technological convergence in the pharma industry. He mentioned that technological convergence in India is developing though it is at a nascent stage. A major challenge is to find out ways in which better health outcomes can be delivered at lower costs.

Further to this, Ms. Aparna Vishwasrao, Associate Director of Talent Management, MSD, elaborated on the growth prospects and HR trends in the pharmacy sector. She spoke about the emerging need for a dynamic and competent skill set apart from the technical skill sets in pharma aspirants. Analytics and talent management were some other HR practices that influence the pharma industry.

The final speaker, Mr.Harminder Singh, the Head of Marketing and Sales at IPCA Laboratories, gave his insights on transforming Human Resources to Human Capital. He said pharma is not a merger friendly but a compulsive merger industry. He laid stress on the importance of employees being an asset that needs to be invested in, supported, and nurtured. He concluded the talk with, “Am I a resource to be exploited or am I a person with feelings, emotions, ambitions, and needs?”.

To summarise, these were profound and engaging talks focused on trends and challenges in the pharma industry, technological convergence and growth ladder in the pharma industry in the ever-changing environment of this sector.